The event was aimed at sharing knowledge between cities and discussing the unique experience of Barcelona and the resilience model generated in the city as a result of a series of initiatives that have been undertaken and that constitute the basis of our city’s resilience building strategy, stakeholder engagement being the common denominator of all of them, and key factor for success. These lines of action, which include: the Operations Centre, providing joint management and communications of the incidences in both public and private operated urban services; the Situation Room, an information and analysis platform providing an integrated overview of urban systems to support decision making; and the Resilience Boards, overseeing the implementation of projects to reduce the city’s vulnerabilities, all constitute the basis of our resilience strategy and are the foundations upon which the Resilience Department of Barcelona is grounded.

Forging international alliances and joining programmes that are global drivers of resilient urban development and have supported Barcelona’s model, such as UN-Habitat’s CRPP, UNISDR’s Making Cities Resilient Campaign, C40’s Climate Change Risk Assessment Network, and most recently Rockefeller Foundation’s ‘100 Resilient Cities’ Challenge -all members of the Medellin Collaboration for Urban Resilience- has undoubtedly helped consolidate the structure and development of tools to lead the process of resilience building in our city.

In this respect, I would like to highlight the tight collaboration with CRPP’s working team, based in Barcelona, in the description of a systemic and holistic approach to measure resilience, fully in line with the current development of the city’s Resilience Plan, and an essential tool to help identify the main lines of action and measures to be implemented in order to reduce the vulnerabilities of the city.

For enquiries on the City Resilience Profiling Programme and the Urban Resilience Institute please contact Dan Lewis, Chief, Urban Risk Reduction Unit:dan.lewis@unhabitat.org

www.unhabitat.org

UNITED NATIONS HUMAN SETTLEMENTS PROGRAMMEP.O.Box 30030, Nairobi 00100, Kenya;Tel: +254-20-7623120;Fax: +254-20-76234266/7 (Central office)infohabitat@unhabitat.org

CRPP HEADQUARTERSSant Pau Art Nouveau Site, Sant Leopold PavillonC. Sant Antoni Maria Claret, 16708025 Barcelona, Spain Tel: + 34 933 900 520

This information brochure summarizes key aspects of UN-Habitat’s new programme producing measurable indices for urban government resilience building efforts.

Guest Column by Mr. Manuel Valdés

Mr. Manuel Valdés, Deputy Manager – Infrastructure and Urban Coordination Urban Habitat (Barcelona City

Council)

© Barcelona City Council

The Medellin Collaboration on Urban Resilience Tool Workshop took place at the CRPP offices in Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site in Barcelona.

The primary purpose of this workshop was; as stated in the Medellin Collaboration on Urban Resilience (MCUR) goals, supporting cities resilience building objectives, bringing more cohesion and accessibility to the variety of resilience assessments and diagnostics currently available or under development by MCUR agencies and others.

The workshop brought together more than 20 attendees from the public and private sectors, including several members from the Collaboration, which includes UN-Habitat, the United Nations Office for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), The Rockefeller Foundation, 100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation, the World Bank, the Inter- American Development Bank, the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, and ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability.

MCUR Resilience tools working group meets in Barcelona

Delegates at the Medellin Collaboration on Urban Resilience Workshop

On 24 and 25 February 2015 Barcelona hosted the “Barcelona Resilience Experience”; its first international workshop drawing close to 200 participants. With more than 30 guest city representatives attending, it was the first initiative boosted by the recently launched Barcelona Urban Resilience Partnership in collaboration with UN-Habitat’s City Resilience Profiling Programme (CRPP). The Barcelona Urban Resilience Partnership, created within UN-Habitat’s Resilience collaboration framework, is a public-private alliance formed by Barcelona City Council and a group of 13 companies and high-level research centres based in our city with a high level of engagement in the building resilience process, a process that has been ongoing since 2009, the year of the Resilience Boards launch.

“The main message to other cities: Do not wait to have the crisis like us. Be smarter than us and start proactively to raise Resilience. “

Manuel Valdés – Deputy Manager – Infrastructure and Urban

Coordination Urban Habitat (Barcelona City Council)

CITY RESILIENCE PROFILING PROGRAMMEVolume 6

Barcelona’s Experience in Resilience

CRPP Partner Cities summit

World Conference DRR - Sendai

Guest Column by Mr Manuel Valdés

Sendai City Panorama from Atago Shrine

Barcelona, Spain © Ares Gabas Masip

Barcelona’s Experience in Resilience Barcelona’s Experience in ResilienceCopyright © United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)

As the main UN agency responsible for ensuring the sustainable development of human settlements, UN-Habitat is strategically placed to coordinate the humanitarian and development efforts of multiple actors and policy makers at all levels in the common pursuit of urban resilience. UN-Habitat has committed to implementing the UN Plan of Action on Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience; operationally, through its Strategic Policy on Human Settlements in Crisis and Sustainable Relief and Reconstruction Framework, institutionally by creating a new Branch, dedicated to disaster risk reduction and resilience, and a global work programme mainstreaming outputs on disaster risk reduction and resilience. The on-going City Resilience Profiling Programme (CRPP) will also contribute to the Plan of Action (as per mandate).

The CRPP goes beyond conventional approaches to ‘risk reduction’, delivering a forward-looking, multi-scale, multi-sectoral, multi-hazard, multi-stakeholder model for building resilience that recognizes the complexities and unique value of cities, and the inherent interdependencies of each part of an urban system.

The CRPP’s comparative advantage is strengthened through key partnerships founded on integrated approaches to urban resilience, with strategic partners including the UNISDR Secretariat, Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, Habitat Partner University Initiative institutions, private sector representatives from the insurance, IT, energy and natural resources industries, as well as city networks including among them ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, UCLG, Metropolis, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, and 100 RC.

UN-Habitat and the City Resilience Profiling Programme

Urban Resilience refers to the ability of any urban system to withstand and recover quickly

from multiple shocks and stresses and maintain continuity of

services.

CRPP Partner Cities summitAfter the Barcelona’s Resilience Experience conference held in Barcelona in February, the CRPP convened the first Partner Cities Summit held from 26 to 27 February in the Barcelona office.

For two days, CRPP Focal Points and local government representatives from Balangoda (SRL), Cagayan de Oro (PHL), Barcelona (SPA), Dar es Salaam (TZA), Beirut (LBN), Tehran (IRN), Lokoja (NGA), and Bogota (COL) as a representative of the CRPP Associate City Network, gathered in this intensive working session to review and share progress and results in the implementation of the CRPP Tool in their cities. The discussion forum supported the exchange of information, challenges and opportunities for both, cities and CRPP, during the process.

The summits are further convened to reinforce the network strength, develop city to city cooperation and collaboration, and establish a feedback mechanism for improvement of the CRPP tools, methodologies, and support systems.

UN-Habitat and the City Resilience Profiling Programme

Highlights from The Third World Conference on Disaster Risk ReductionThird World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, held in Sendai, Japan 14-18 March, 2015 saw over 6,500 delegates attending the intergovernmental and multi-stakeholder events while over 50,000 attended the public forum. The present post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction was adopted at the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. Building on the Hyogo Framework for Action, the present framework aims to achieve the following outcomes over the next 15 years: The substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries. The present framework also asserts that to attain the expected outcome, the following goal must be achieved:“Prevent new and reduce existing disaster risk through the implementation of integrated and inclusive

C I T Y R E S I L I E N C E P R O F I L I N G P R O G R A M M Ew w w . c i t y r e s i l i e n c e . o r g

CRPP Milestones

UN-Habitat launches global

competition for Partner Cities

UN-Habitat and Barcelona City Council

signed Contribution Agreement

UN-Habitat opens CRPP Headquarters

in Barcelona and launches International

Urban Resilience Institu

te (URI)

Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction

Smart City E

xpo World Congress

CRPP selects 10 Partner Cities

CRPT pilot starts

MCUR Tools Workshop

Medellin Collaboration on Urban Resilience

CRPP Cities Working Sessio

n

UN-Habitat World Urban Forum 7

International Workshop on

Barcelona’s Experience in Resilience

UN Secretary General Climate Summit

20132014

2015

2012

economic, structural, legal, social, health, cultural, educational, environmental, technological, political and institutional measures that prevent and reduce hazard exposure and vulnerability to disaster, increase preparedness for response and recovery, and thus strengthen resilience.”Another key issue that emerged from the conference was the Sendai Declaration that sets out to achieve:“1- The determination to enhance the efforts to strengthen disaster risk reduction to reduce disaster losses of lives and assets worldwide. 2- Strong commitment to the implementation of the new framework as the guide to enhance our efforts for the future. 3- The call to all stakeholders to action, aware that the realization of the new framework depends on the unceasing and tireless collective efforts to make the world safer from the risk of disasters to come for the benefit of the present and future generations.4- The appreciation to Japan for its commitment to advancing disaster risk reduction in the global agenda.”

Participants at the CRPP Partner Cities Summit.

On 24-25 February, 2015, the International Workshop “Barcelona’s Experience in Resilience” was held at Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site (Barcelona). The conference was organized by the City Council of Barcelona, in partnership with UN-Habitat - City Resilience Profiling Programme and BCN Urban Resilience Partnership. This public-private alliance, set up in 2013 with a group of companies and high-level research centres based in Barcelona is an integral element in building the city’s resilience strategy and constitutes a unique model of public private collaboration all over the world.

The event gathered over 170 participants from more than 30 cities, including Balangoda, Beirut, Dar es Salaam, Cayagan de Oro, Lokoja, Tehran, London, Rome, Bogotá, Malmö, São Paulo, Milano and New York. Participants included, among others, city councilors, researchers (RMIT University, Polytechnic University of Catalunya, University of Barcelona, GSSI and University of Huddersfield), corporate executives from the main service provider companies, consultants and staff from international organisations (UN-Habitat, C40 Cities, Rockefeller Foundation, Mancomunidad de Mancomunidades de América Latina y del Caribe, Metropolis, Resilient Regions Association, and MedCities). Ultimately, this was a good networking opportunity to exchange best practices and open possibilities to forge new partnerships and facilitate future collaborations.

Barcelona’s Experience in Resilience

Regarded as one of the most important global meetings on urban innovation, the Smart City Expo World Congress, celebrated its fourth edition 18-20 November, 2014. The CRPP contributed to several events during the Congress, engaging city representatives and private sector companies interested in UN-Habitat’s work on urban resilience.

UN-Habitat, through its City Resilience Profiling Programme (CRPP), has teamed up with the organisers of the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) to ensure that a focus on resilience and sustainable human settlements will be included as a permanent feature in all future events.

Among several UN-Habitat led events, the CRPP brought together the following panelists to a discussion on the “Dimensions of Urban Resilience”: Michael Berkowitz - Managing Director of 100 Resilient Cities, Kaine Thompson - Chief of Staff of Wellington City Council, Manuel Valdés – Manager of Infrastructure and Urban Coordination of Barcelona City Council, Douglas Ragan – Chief of Youth Unit of UN-Habitat and Mohamed Boussraoui from United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), illustrating the momentum building at local, national, regional and global scales on the interest and implementation of city resilience.

The session was chaired by Dan Lewis - Chief of Urban Risk Reduction Unit of UN-Habitat and Head of the CRPP, and drew a standing room only crowd.

Dimensions of Urban Resilience with Mr. Douglas Ragan UN-Habitat, Mr. Michael Berkowitz - 100 Resilient Cities, Mr. Kaine Thompson - Wellington City Council, Mr. Mohamed Boussraoui UCLG and Mr.

Manuel Valdés Barcelona City Council.

© Smart City Expo World Congress

Highlights from Smart City Expo World Congress

Awarded for their innovative approach and commitment to resilienceTwo of the CRPP Partner Cities; Barcelona and Wellington, have been selected by the 100 Resilient Cities, pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation, as part of their second round of partner city selection.

This is reflective of the effort and commitment to the work done in this field for years in both cities, and the recognition by the 100 Resilient Cities team.

Congratulations Barcelona and Wellington. Always advancing towards urban resilience!

C I T Y R E S I L I E N C E P R O F I L I N G P R O G R A M M Ew w w . c i t y r e s i l i e n c e . o r g

Ecocity World Summit

ICLEI 6th Resilient Cities Congress

70th UN General Assembly (UNGA 70)

Smart City E

xpo World Congress

City Profiles and Resilie

nce Indices and

Standards developed Launch Global Standards for Urban

Resilience

World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction

COP21 United Nations Climate Change Conference

25th UN-Habitat Governing Council

2nd Preparatory Committee for Habitat III

World Humanitarian Summit

Habitat III Conference

2016

“We are responsible for the care of people especially those who are in a vulnerable situation either by their state of fragility or by the process they are living.”

Ms Isabel Ferrer – Head of the Department of Social Emergencies-

Barcelona City Council

“Adaptation is a long term agenda but it needs to start now.”

Ms Kathryn Vines – Climate Risk Assessment Network Director C40 Cities

“We are trying to change government.”

Vikram Singh Associate Director for City Relationships – 100 Resilient

Cities pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation

Some of the participants at Barcelona’s Experience in Resilience

Barcelona’s Experience in Resilience

During the course of two intense working days, the event highlighted the progress of Barcelona building its resilience with a view to exchanging experiences from other international cities such as Panamà, Copenhagen or Bogotá. While exploring the key hazard drivers of the resilience agenda of the City of Barcelona, Manuel Valdés, Deputy Manager for Infrastructures, and Isabel Ferrer, Head of the Department of Social Emergencies of the Barcelona City Council, further explained the methods and thinking behind the creation of mechanisms and structures that underpin the process of delivering Barcelona’s resilience agenda. The clear message to other cities was to plan ahead and not wait until a crisis occurs to start proactively developing resilience strategies.

One critical conclusion arising from the event was that the key to Barcelona’s resilience model success was having established a robust partnership with the stakeholders who could contribute towards building a more resilient city. All in all, and as Dan Lewis, Chief Urban Risk Reduction of UN-Habitat, put it: “You cannot ignore the momentum building globally on urban resilience; act today to reap the rewards of your efforts tomorrow.”

CRPP OverviewThe CRPP is delivering the following four accomplishments: 1. Research on Operational Framework: An adaptable urban systems model suitable for all human settlements.2. Indexing and Profiling: A set of indicators, standards, and profiles to support cities for calibrating urban systems’ ability to withstand and recover from crisis. 3. Tools/Software Development: Software systems that produce city resilience profiles, from which Resilience Action Plans are derived.4. Normative Guidance: Global standards set for urban resilience at different levels from local policies based in the Resilience Action Plans to national policies including the states competences towards new resilience standards.